Multicylinder expansion-engine.



No. 757 532. 7 PATENTED APR. 19,1904.

0. J.-WILLIAMS.

MULTIGYLINDBR EXPANSION ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 15, 1902.

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No. 757,532. PATENTED APR. 19,1904.

0. J. WILLIAMS.

MULTIGYLINDER EXPANSION ENGINE.

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c. J. WILLIAM-S. MULTIGYLINDER EXPANSION ENGINE.

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c. J. WILLIAMS.

MULTIGYLIN DER EXBANSION ENGINE.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES JAMES WILLIAMS, OF EAST GREENWICH, ENGLAND.

MULTICYLINDER EXPANSION-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 757,532, dated April 19,1904. Application filed January 15, 1902. Serial No. 89,810. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CHARLES JAMES WIL- LIAMS, a subject of the King ofGreat Britain, residing at East Greenwich, England, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Multicylinder Expansion-Engins,ofwhich the following is a full and complete specification, such as willenable those skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and usethe same.

This invention relates to multicylinder-engines working directly upon asingle crank and in which the cylinders are arranged in relativelysuitable angles to one another about the crank, and has for its objectthe increase of the efiiciency of the engine with exceptionalcompactness of construction in proportion to the work developed by it.As is well known, engines of this class are usually of the singleactingcircular-trunk type, with connectingrods pivoted in the said trunk inorder to bring the cylinders compactly down to the crank without slidesor cross-heads. 'In my improved engine I retain such compact form ofconstruction as regards the position of the cylinders to the crank; butI make the pistons double-acting by reducing the trunk to a smallrectilinear section with round ends, which thus leaves a considerablepiston area on the under trunk through a lower cover provided with a'special packing device, hereinafter described, to make a steam-tightjoint about such reduced trunk.

To this end the invention consists of an engine constructedsubstantially as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and asillustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is avertical section taken at the center lines of each of the threecylinders and looking toward the forward part of the engine, showing thepistons and improved trunks in elevation, the connecting-rods also inelevation and partly in dotted lines, and the form of frame to which thecylinders and crank-shaft are attached, all the various -positions inwhich the pistons, crank, and connecting-rods are shown representing thehighpressure piston commencing the outward stroke with the engine goingahead; Fig. 2, a vertical section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, avertical section taken through the center lines of each of the threevalves and looking toward the rear of the engine and showing the pipeconnections, valves, valvespindles, and connecting-links all in thepositions described in Fig. 1; Fig. 4, a sectional plan of part of theengine-frame and the forward end of the crank-shaft to an enlarged scaleand the eccentric in section and the improved mechanism for reversingthe engines; Fig. 5, a vertical section of the intermediate cylinder andvalve-chamber and part of the engine-frame with the improvedpackingchamber and packing and the improved piston and trunk inelevation, the piston and valve being in position for the inward stroke,as shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 6, a part sectional plan of Fig. 5 on the lineas w of Fig. 5, showing the improved packing around the improved trunk,the inner steam passage to valve, its communication to the steam-supply,and the outer steam-passage t0 valve; Fig. 7, a plan view of theintermediate piston with the cap and junk-ringremoved and the lower partof the connecting-rod pivot-bush in position; Fig. 8, a vertical sectionof the intermediate piston and trunk, showing part of the conneCting-rodand the method of securing and pivoting the outer end of theconnecting-rod in the piston; Fig. 9, a plan view of the piston-cap withthe upper part of the connecting-rod pivot-bush shown in dotted lines;Fig. 10, a vertical section of Fig. 8, taken at right angles to thatfigure; Fig. 11, a partial vertical section of the engine-frame, showingthe eccentric sheave and strap and means which I employ for givingparallel motion thereto; Fig. 12, a section on the line 12 12 of Fig.11; Fig. 13, a sectional view showing the coupling of the piston-rodswith the crank-shaft; Fig. '14, a partial plan view thereof; Fig. 15, apartial section on the line 15 15 of Fig. 5; Fig. 16, a transversesection on the line '16 16 of Fig. 4:; Fig. 17, a'partial longitudinalsection of Fig. 4 on the line 17 17 of Fig. 16, and Fig. 18 a transversesection on the line 18 18 of Fig. 4c.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, A represents theengine-frame,which incloses all the working parts of the engine exceptthe two ends of the crank-shaft B and the reversing mechanism D,hereinafter described, and it also constitutes an oil-receptacle tocontain the oil necessary for lubrication when the engine is required torun at a high speed.

The afterjournal I) of the crank-shaft B revolves in a bushed hub whichmay form a part of the engine-frame, an opening fitted with aremovabledoor a being provided above the said hub to facilitate the fixing andremoving of the shaft. The forward journal 6 of the crank-shaft Brevolves in a similar bush the hub of which forms part of the lower halfof the forward removable door (0 the top half a being somewhat similarto and fulfilling a like purpose to the removable door in theafter-opening (0 Both bushes are in halves and are kept in position byremovable caps cf and a, and this arrangement gives facilities forfixing and removing the shaft and for closing the half-bushes, so as totake up the usual wear.

In Fig. 1 I have shown in section two cylinders C and C and a part of Cand they are the high-pressure, intermediate, and lowpressure cylinders,respectively, and are similar in all other respects to the ordinarytripleexpansion compound engines hitherto in use with the exception thatthey are placed at angles of one hundred and twenty degrees to eachother around one common crank for the purpose of avoiding dead-centersand to abolish guides and cross-heads. The cylinders G,

C, and C and valve-chambers 0, 0, and 0 as shown in section in Figs. 2and 5, are formed in one casting; but in engines of larger slzes theymay with advantage be cast 1n two or more sections, and the cylinders C,C, and

C are provided with outer covers C", C, and C and the correspondingvalve-chambers with covers 0 c and 0 which are removable to enable thepistons and trunks E, E, and E already fitted with their connecting-rodRF, and F to be shipped into position, and the coupling up of theconnecting-rod ends to the crank-pin B can readily be accomplishedthrough the forward and after openings in the engine-frame, the threehalf-doors a, a and a being removable for this purpose. I

In Figs. 8 and 10 are shown in detail the piston and trunk E of theintermediate cylinder, together with the outer end of the connecting-rodF in section to an enlarged scale, in which R is the piston and trunk, Rthe junk-ring, and R the cap in position, showing two sections at rightangles to each other, the top half of the pivot-bush and also thepivot-pins S with part of the connecting-rod F all in position. Thelower half of the pivot-bush (marked W) is also shown in section inFigs. 8 and 10 and also in plan in Fig. 7

r and r represent the two rings of packing and are in the sections shownin Figs. 8 and 10 parted in the circumference and held together and inposition by the junk-ring B. Fig. 7 is a plan of the piston with thejunkring removed, as well as the packing-ring r, and Fig. 9 is a planview of the cap R The inner bottoms G, G, and Gr of the cylinders C C Cand the inner bottoms g g g of the valve-chambers 0 o c are accuratelyturned and fitted disks, the inner surfaces being shouldered down to fitinto the ends of the cylinders and valvechambers, respectively. Theouter faces of the cylinder-disks form covers for the packing H,hereinafter described, which rests in a recessed chamber, as shown inFig. 5, and marked a, and the valve-chamber disks have each an innerprojection g g, and g hollowed out and screwthreaded internally, whichacts as a stufiingbox, each being fitted with anexternallyscrew-threaded hollow plug 9 which is provided with a flangeon the outer end notched to fit the internal projections on atighteningup spanner. The valve-chambers are lined with bushes I, fittedwith three sets of ports, said ports being by preference diagonallyshaped. The ports in each of the three valves are indicated by theletters 0 for the. outer port, I for the inner ports, and E for theexhaust-ports. These ports in the liningbush communicate with threepassages O, 1 and E, O and I leading to the outer and inner sides of thepiston and E leading to the exhaust-passages.

The three valves K are shown in positions relative to'the positions oftheir respective pistons, and the outside ends and inside ends of eachof the valves are indicated at K and and K respectively, and are open tothe steam-supply.

The eccentric L is of an ordinary or single eccentric disk and isaltered from its ahead position, as it is shown in the drawings, by thereversing mechanism, in which D, Figs. 2, 4:, 16, 17, and 18, representsa sleeve capable of being traversed backward and forward on the forwardend of the crankshaft B, being prevented from turning thereon by afeather (l Fig. 18, on the crank-shaft B and a corresponding groove inthe hollow of the sleeve D or by any Well-known mechanical device. Thereis a spiral groove d, Fig. 4, through the side of the sleeve, into whichfits the outer end of a pin (i and the end of the crank-shaft B ishollowed out for a necessary distance, as shown in Fig. 17 and asegmental slot d, Fig. 4, is formed in the circumference of the hollowpart of the shaft, in which a pin d works, said pin being similar to thepin 6?, but with a T-shaped head. d extending beyond the outer surfaceof the crank-shaft B and fitting into a feather-Way in the eccentric L,as shown in Fig. 3. The outer pin passes through the head, and the innerpin 03 IIO through the inner end of a turned bolt D,

Figs. 4, 16, 1'7 andlS, said bolt fitting easily into the hollow of thecrank-shaft and being prevented from coming out by the T-headed pin (2When the eccentric is required to be altered to fastern, the sleeve D isdrawn outward and being prevented from turning by the feather 05 causesthe pind to turn in the necessary direction until the opposite end ofthe spiral slot is occupied by the pin, and the outer pin d and bolt Dturning the required distance causes the inner pin d to turn also, andthe eccentricL, connected therewith, travels to the opposite position,thereby carrying the valves K by means of the connecting-links L and thevalve-spindles to their proper position for going backward, as clearlyshown in Fig. 3.

;There is a projection Z, as shown in-Fig. 12, on the eccentric-sheaveand a corresponding gap m in a collar M, in which the sheave projectiontravels, the two ends of the gap m acting as stoppers to the eccentricL, and in Figs; 11 and 12 an arrangement is shown by which theeccentric-ring is prevented from leaving its proper course and which maybe described as a parallel motion.

A represents a part of the engine-frame; B, a part of the crank-shaft;L, the eccentric sheave and strap, and M is the collar on said shaft, inthe gap m of which works the projection Z on the eccentric-sheave. Lrepresents the three links connecting the eccentricstrap with thevalve-spindles.

Secured to the eccentric-strap is an arm and pivot-joint Z, which isconnected with a ratchet-wheel P, which is in mesh with a similar wheelP mounted on a pin p andthereby connects with a similar ratchet-wheel P,which is secured to the eccentric-sheave L. The ratchet-wheel P revolvesabout a pin 19 and carries a pin 39 which is placed at a distance fromthe center of P corresponding to the distance that the eccentric is outof true, and to this pin 10 is connected the arm and pivotjoint Z, andby means of this construction when the eccentric-sheave L is turned thewheel P is also turned in the same direction, carrying around the pin pand thereby drawing the eccentric-strap, said eccentric and strapthereby moving parallel to the different valve centers.

The packing H consists of two wedge-shaped pieces of'antifriction metal,as shown in Fig. 15, each being shaped at the full end of the wedge tofit the half-rounded ends of the trunk. The narrow ends of the packingare inserted through openings shown fitted with doors N, the said doorsbeing fixed to projections on the inner flanges of the cylinders and thecylinder-seats on the engine-frame by bolts n Each of the doors N isprovided with aregulating-screw n, which acts upon a shield n, and theshield acting on the full end of the wedge-shaped packing-piece pushesit forward and makes goodthe wear due to friction.

With reference to Fig. 3, T is the steampipe which connects'the boilerto the highpressure cylinder C; T, the steam-pipe connecting the exhaustfrom the high-pressure cylinder C to the intermediate cylinder C; T, thesteam-pipe connecting the exhaust of the cylinder C to the low-pressure.cylinder C and T the exhaust-pipe of the cylinder C and which may beconducted into a condenser or water-tank or be disposed of in anysuitable manner.

The steam from the boiler after passing through one or moreregulating-valves, cocks,

or other suitable checks or stops enters a distributing-passage (shownin Fig. 6 in plan) formed in the valve-chamber and flows in thedirection indicated by the arrows toithe inner and outer ends of thecylindrical distributingvalve K, Figs. v2, 3, 5,,- and 6, through whichit passes in regulated quantities to either side of the pistonalternately. Each measure of steam after performing a given amount ofwork passes into the pipe T through the exhaustports or passages E Ff,Figs. 2, 3, 5, and 6," in the high-pressure valve-chamber on its way tothe intermediate valve-chamber, Figs. 5 and 6, and in a similar mannertothat previously described with reference tothe high -pressure cylinderperforms a second given quantity of work. The volume of steam havingexpanded and the pressure having consequently become reduced during theforegoing operation, the surface area of the second piston requires tobe increased sufliciently to enable the work to be done by the secondengine with the reduced pressure of steam to equal or nearly equal thework performed by the initial pressure in'the first cylinder. The threevalve chambers being similarly constructed, the exhaust-steam from thesecond cylinder passes in the same manner as that de scribed withvreference to the first or highwith reference to the high-pressurecylinder and exhausts through the pipe T into the atmosphere, or aspreviously described.

Having'fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. An engine comprising a casing, a plurality of cylinders and valvechambers mounted therein about a central shaft and arranged radially tosaid shaft, the pistons and valves ITO thereof being in operativeconnection with said shaft, said cylinders being graduated in size,means for passing live steam through the first of said valve-chambersand cylinders on each side alternately of the piston thereof, and meansfor admitting partially-expanded steam to the other valve-chambers andcylinders and to each side of the pistons thereof alternately, therebymaking said pistons double acting, said cylinders and valve-chambersbeing also so arranged as to work in conjunction with each other,substantially as shown and described.

2. v A double-acting engine comprising a casing, a plurality ofcylinders and valve-chambers in said casing, a piston provided with atrunk in each of said cylinders, said trunks being elongated incross-section, packing devices for each of said trunks consisting of twoWedge-shaped blocks of antifriction material arranged in the inner headsof each of said cylinders, and means for adjusting said packing deviceswith reference to said trunks, substantially as shown and described.

3. A double-acting engine comprising a casing, a plurality of cylindersin said casing arranged about a central shaft and at predeterminedangles to each other, the outer ends of said cylinders being removable,a piston in each of said cylinders, a trunk smaller in area secured toeach of said pistons, a connectingrod pivoted within each of said trunksand connected with the crank-pin of said shaft, a

detachable head secured to each of said trunks nately, substantially asshown and described.

4. An engine of the class described, comprising a casing, a plurality ofcylinders and valve-chambers arranged therein about a central shaft andat predetermined angles to each other, a piston and trunk in each ofsaid cylinders, a rod connecting each of said pistons and trunks with acrank-pin of said shaft, a valve Within each of said valve-chambers, avalve-spindle connected with each of said valves, an eccentric-sheaveprovided with an eccentric-strap mounted on said shaft, a linkconnecting each of said valve-spindles with said eccentric-strap, andmeans for admitting steam to each of said valve-chambers and cylinderssuccessively directly on each side of said pistons alternately,substantially as shown and described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of the subscribing witnesses, this 1st day of January,1902.

CHARLES JAMES WILLIAMS.

VWitnesses:

H. D. JAMEsoN, A. NUTTING.

